Recent Articles
Illinois to Impose a 180 day Limit on STM Plans in 2019!
Illinois lawmakers have taken steps to limit the maximum duration of short-term medical plans (STM plans) to 180 days. Earlier this year, Gov. Bruce Rauner vetoed a bill that would apply this limitation, but Illinois lawmakers had enough votes to override that veto....
Illinois Approves Medicaid Coverage for Mental Health Via Telehealth
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner has approved legislation mandating the state’s Medicaid program to reimburse behavioral and mental health providers for telehealth. The bill was one of five signed into law this week by Rauner, all designed to improve access to mental...
BCBSIL’s Parent Company Profits $1 Billion
The parent of Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Illinois, the state's largest insurer, made more than a billion dollars last year, rebounding after three years of Affordable Care Act-related duress. Health Care Service Corp.'s 2017 net income soared more than 10-fold,...
Rauner stops sending Medicaid patients to BCBSIL
The Rauner administration has cut off Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Illinois from enrolling patients in the state's revamped Medicaid managed care program, a blow to the dominant insurer. The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, which oversees...
Trump’s budget could let those on Medicare use HSAs
A provision tucked in President Donald Trump's proposed budget would give people on Medicare a way to save for health care costs on a tax-advantaged basis. In the proposal, the White House calls for a new option that would permit Medicare beneficiaries to make...
BCBSIL reaches agreement with OSF Hospital System
BCBSIL and OSF – Agreement Reached Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois (BCBSIL) and the Order of St. Francis Healthcare System (OSF) have reached an agreement that will keep the following OSF hospitals in BCBSIL’s PPO and BlueChoice® networks: Medical Center...
2018 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles Announced
The standard monthly premium for Medicare Part B enrollees will be $134 for 2018, the same amount as in 2017. Some beneficiaries who were held harmless against Part B premium increases in prior years will have a Part B premium increase in 2018, but the premium...
Trump pulling Obamacare subsidies is latest bitter pill for health insurance shoppers
In Illinois, nearly half of the roughly 314,000 people who bought Obamacare health insurance coverage last year did so with the help of a federal subsidy. Nationwide, the tally is higher: on average 57 percent of the 10.3 million people with such a plan, according to...
Illinois Insurers plan to hike Obamacare rates 43 percent
Insurers want to raise rates by up to 43 percent for Illinois customers who receive health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Among the companies seeking double-digit rate hikes on most of their plans starting next year are the three insurers that offered...
Illinois insurers plan 2018 double-digit ACA rate increases
Illinois consumers and small businesses using Obamacare will have fewer insurers to choose from and could face double-digit rate hikes for health plans they buy on the exchanges. On average, the highest rate increase proposed for plans to be sold to Illinois small...